A's finish sweep to seize 1st from wild-card Rangers

A dropped fly ball by Josh Hamilton, a home run by Ryan Zimmerman and pitch by pitch, the baseball playoff picture became a bit more clear on the final day of the regular season.

The Associated Press

A dropped fly ball by Josh Hamilton, a home run by Ryan Zimmerman and pitch by pitch, the baseball playoff picture became a bit more clear on the final day of the regular season.

The Oakland Athletics clinched the AL West on Wednesday, trumping Texas 12-5 by taking advantage of Hamilton's error. The Yankees later hoped to claim the AL East crown, owning a one-game edge over the Baltimore Orioles.

Zimmerman and the Washington Nationals got sized for hats with postseason patches, then beat Philadelphia 5-1 to earn home-field advantage all the way through November, if necessary.

The playoffs begin Friday when the defending World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals visit Chipper Jones and the Atlanta Braves in the winner-take-all NL wild-card matchup. On Saturday night, Cincinnati will be San Francisco in Game 1 of the division series.

The rest of the postseason pairings were still to be determined.

CLEVELAND — Terry Francona has been doing his homework on the Cleveland Indians. He's got a test coming up.

The former Boston and Philadelphia manager will interview Friday with the club, which fired Manny Acta last week following a second-half collapse that dropped the Indians from contention to near the bottom of the AL Central. Francona, who led the Red Sox to World Series titles in 2004 and 2007, will be the second candidate interviewed.

On Thursday, Sandy Alomar Jr. will have his formal interview to become the Indians' full-time manager. Alomar, who served as Acta's bench coach, was named the club's interim manager with six games left. The Indians are 2-3 under Alomar heading into Wednesday's season finale against the Chicago White sox.

Alomar was a six-time All-Star catcher with the Indians and immensely popular with Cleveland fans. The 46-year-old has previously interviewed with the Chicago Cubs, Toronto and Boston. He's in line to get a major league's manager's job, but Alomar understands Francona may be viewed as a better option for the Indians, who contended for four months before going 5-24 in August — the worst month in the franchise's 112-year history.

Francona has been working as an analyst for ESPN. He was a special assistant in Cleveland's front office in 2001, and told the AP last week that he would welcome a chance to work again with Indians general manager Chris Antonetti and team president Mark Shapiro.